Puzha Meen Curry/Fresh Water Fish Curry-Easy Recipe

This is a simple recipe which my mom used to prepare. Puzha meen will cook very easily too. I used to remove the skin of fish when making fish curries. Most of you won't do that. It's your choice. You can prepare as ur wish. Next time instead of frying fresh water fish, try this recipe and make a yummy curry.

Cooking Time:15 min
Serves:2

Ingredients:

River Fish	1(medium)
Chilly Powder	1 tspoon
Coriander powder	2&1/2 tspoon
Pepper powder	1/2 tspoon
Shallots/Small onion	4(skin peeled)
Coconut Oil	2 tspoon
Curry leaves	1 sprig
Salt	to taste
Tamarind	1 lemon size(soak in water and extract the juice)

Preparation:

(1) Wash and clean the fish. Cut into medium pieces. I cut into 5 pieces out of a medium size fish. Take it in a cooking vessel(prefarably earthern pot/Man chatti, i didn't used due to out of stock).

(2) Mean while take shallots in a mixer and grind it. To this add chilly powder, coriander powder and pepper powder. Again grind it by sprinkling water and make a very smooth paste.

(3) Add the ground paste to the fish. Add salt and tamarind juice. Pour water below the level of fish. Mix well. Make a salt test here.

(4) Allow the fish to cook in low to medium flame. When it starts boiling make a test for salt and spiciness, adjust accordingly. Rotate the vessel twice in between cooking. Add coconut oil and curry leaves when it is cooked almost. (i didn't used curry leaves due to out of stock :(  ). Switch off the flame when fish is cooked well and water evaporates(It looks like Meen Vattichathu). Your curry is now ready.

Enjoy Your fish curry with Rice/Kappa(Tapioca)…….

Tip:

• Add more tamarind juice which is the speciality of this curry.
• Adjust spiciness according to your tolerance.

Home Made Chocolates

Yeah now time for sweetness. I know all of you love chocolates. Do you know preparing home made chocolates are so easy???Yes, it is!!!!  I got this recipe from one of my favorite cooking show. 

My little one like this very much and i love to see his smile when he chew it. He will tell as "chac, chac" with a lovely smile…heehee..ok story time over and here comes the recipe with my clicks...

Preparation Time: 15 min
Setting Time: 8 hrs in room temp/4 hrs in refrigerator
No.of Chocolates: 15(big)

Ingredients:

Cocoa Powder( i used Hershey's)	1 tbl spoon
Drinking Chocolate	5 tbl spoon
Icing Sugar/Powdered Sugar	3 to 5 tbl spoon
MilkMaid/Condensed Milk	1/2 cup
Milk Powder	2 tbl spoon

Preparation:

(1) Take cocoa powder in a bowl. Add icing sugar to it and mix well with a spoon or spatula.

(2) Now add milk powder to it and mix well.

(3) To this add drinking chocolate and mix all the contents well using a spoon or spatula.To this dry ingredients pour condensed milk little by little. Mix well.

(4) Mix the dry ingredients with the condensed milk using hand. You will find it too sticky to mix. But be patient and mix well. Make a thick paste (Don't make it watery). Now leave aside for 20 minutes in room temperature to set well (You can also keep the same in refrigerator for about 10 min).

(5) Once it is set you will get a very thick paste. Take one bunch(lemon size) of prepared mixture in hand. Make ball shapes by rolling it using hands.

(6) Keep the ball shapes in a plate (keep space between each chocolates,preferably placed above a foil paper/wax paper to avoid stickiness, i didn't used).

(7) Now keep aside for more than 7 hours in room temperature or more than 3 hrs in refrigerator. Your home made chocolates are now ready (Ball shapes will slightly depress and form circle shapes).

(8) You can store this chocolates in a container or else cover each chocolates with a foil paper and store it. Store in refrigerator for short term use and in a freezer for long term use.

Prepare and enjoy your own chocolates
:)

Mutton Chops

Yet another weekend special, mutton chops..Got this recipe from a cooking book….

Preparation Time:45 min                      
Serves:4

Ingredients:

Mutton	3/4 kg
Big onion	1(large,chopped)
Ginger	1 square shape(crushed)+2 inch piece(crushed)
Garlic	8 cloves(crushed)
Chilly powder	2 tspoon
Turmeric powder	1 tspoon
Coriander powder	1&1/2 tspoon
Garam masala	1 tspoon
Curry leaves	1 sprig
Bay leaves	3
Cardamom	5
Cinnamon	2 inch stick
Cumin seeds	1/2 tspoon
Salt	1/2 cup
Oil	2 tspoon
Ghee	2 tspoon
Pepper Powder	2 tspoon
Water	1/2 cup

To roast and grind:

Oil	1 tspoon
Grated coconut	1/2 cup

Preparation:

(1) Wash and clean mutton. Cut into medium pieces. Keep it aside.

(2) Heat oil in a pan. Add grated coconut into it. Saute till the color changes to brownish. Take care not to burn it. Allow it to cool.

(3) Once it is cooled grind it in a mixer and make a fine powder. Keep it aside.

(4) Mean while heat oil in a bottomed pan. Pour oil. To the hot oil add cardamom, bay leaves, and cinnamon.Saute till it emanates its unique flavor. To this add crushed ginger and garlic. Saute till raw smell goes off. Now add onion slices with half tspoon of salt. Saute till the color changes to light brown.

(5) Add curry leaves. Saute well. To this add turmeric powder, chilly powder and coriander powder. Mix well. Add salt. Now add ground coconut powder to it. Mix well and switch off the flame. Keep this masala aside.

(6) Heat a pressure cooker. Transfer the prepared masala to pressure cooker(you can prepare the above masala in a cooker too). Also add chopped mutton pieces. Add half cup of water to it( As i want more gravy, i increased the amount of water).  Mix well. Make a salt test here. Pressure cook for 3 whistles.

(7) Switch off the flame and allow it to cool down naturally.

(8) Mean while heat ghee in a pan. Add crushed garlic. Saute till raw smell goes off. To this add pepper powder. Saute well. Transfer the cooked mutton to this pan and mix well. Add garam masala. Mix well

(9) Heat it till moisture evaporates and oil separates(I already added more water for gravy that you can see in the below picure. Usually mutton chops will be more or less dry). Switch off the flame and close the vessel with a lid(It will attain dark brown color when the flavor sets).Your mutton chops is now ready.

Have it with your chappathi/appam/rice..

Tiffin Sambar-Restaurant Style

How about tasting saravana bhavan sambar???I enjoy it and hope you too like it. Hotel sambar tastes different than regular sambar. You can soak "Mini Idly"  and "Uzhunnu Vada" in this sambar which will be my choice in "hotel saravana bhavan" and "hotel wood lands". I used to prepare it once in a while which is my hubby's favorite too…Ok here comes the recipe with my clicks….

Cooking Time:35 min                                                     Serves:5

Ingredients:

Toor Dal	1/2 cup
Potato	1(cut into 2 pieces)
Carrot	1(whole or cut into two pieces)
Small onion	10 to 15(skin peeled)
Tomato	1(chopped into cube shapes)
Green chilly	3(chopped into round shapes)
Asafoetida powder	1 pinch +1/2 tspoon
Turmeric Powder	1/4+1/2 tspoon
Water	as needed
Oil	2 tspoon
Coriander leaves	1 pinch
Curry Leaves	1 sprig
Tamarind	1 gooseberry size(soak in hot water and extract the juice)
Salt	to taste
Sugar	1 tspoon

To roast and grind:

Channa dal	1 tbl spoon
Coriander seed	2 tspoon
Dry red chilly	5
Cumin seed	1 tspoon

To temper:

Oil/Ghee	1 tspoon
Mustard	1 tspoon
Cumin seed	1/2 tspoon
Dry red chilly	2
Curry leaves	1 sprig

Preparation:

(1) In a pressure cooker add toor dal, potato, carrot, asafoetida powder, turmeric powder, and salt.   Cook it for 3 whistles by adding 1&1/2 cup of water.

(2) Once pressure is released and cooled, separate potato and carrot from the cooker. Chop them into bitable pieces that is potato into cube shapes and carrot into round shapes. Also mash the dal. Keep both aside.

(3) Mean while heat a pan and add the ingredients under the table "to roast and grind". Saute till the color changes to brownish. Saute in low to medium flame and take care not to burn the pieces. Better add cumin seeds in the final stage. Switch off the flame and allow the ingredients to cool.

(4) Grind the cooled ingredients in a mixer and make a fine powder. "Sambar powder" is now ready. Keep it aside.

(5) Mean while heat oil a pan. Add onion and saute till color changes brownish. Add green chilly and tomato pieces. Saute till the raw smell goes off and tomato turns mushy ie for 1 to 2 minutes. Keep it aside.

(6) Take 2 & 1/2 cup of water in a cooking vessel and heat it. Add the fried onion, tomato into it and mix well. Add tamarind juice and salt to your taste. Once it starts to boil add turmeric powder, curry leaves, coriander leaves and asafoetida powder. Mix well.

(7) To this add potato and carrot pieces and close the vessel with a lid. In 2 to 3 minutes add the ground sambar powder into it little by little and mix well to avoid any lump formation.

(8) Then add the mashed dal and mix well. Finally add sugar. If the sambar tends to thicken add more water and make it to your consistency. Now temper with the ingredients shown under "to temper" heading and pour over the sambar. Your Tiffin sambar/Idly sambar is now ready.

Here your tiffin sambar is...

Enjoy with your dosa/idly…You can have mini idly's or Uzhunnu vada soaked in this sambar which tastes too good.
 Since i don't have mini idly plate, i prepared normal size idly and soaked it which is my hubby's favorite….

Tips:

• Don't add too much of tamarind juice like that of other sambar.

Mango pickle/Manga Achar

I told already in a post that i like pickles a lot and can have it with idly, dosa too :) . No need of any special side dish with rice too if there is a slurp pickle. This manga achar is one of my favorite which my grandma and mom used to do. They used to prepare a lot and will store it in "bharani". When i came abroad they packed the same and i took it here o:). Somehow escaped from customs check :)). Within months we both finished it. From there i starts the preparation. Ahem!!!!Enough of my story eh??????

Ok,Here comes the recipe…It need 4 days of preparation and for your ease i will explain in that form.

Ingredients:

Mango	2(medium)
Salt	to taste
Sesame oil/Nallenna	2 tbl spoon
Mustard	1 tspoon
Red chilly powder	2 +2 tspoon
Asafoetida powder	1/2 tspoon
Fenugreek powder	1/4 tspoon
Water	2 cup
Red chilly powder	4 tspoon

Preparation:

(1) Day 1: Wash mangoes. Chop into cube shapes without peeling the skin. Allow the pieces to dry in direct sunlight for one day.

(2) Day 2: On next day take the pieces in an airtight bottle. Add salt, close the bottle with a lid and shake the bottle well, so that salt will mix with the pieces. Let it be there for one day.

(3) Day 3: Add 2 tspoon of red chilly powder to the container. Shake it well, so that it will mix with entire pieces. Again keep it for one day. Look at my "boost" bottle :) .

(4) Day 4: Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard. Once it splutters pour water into it. Let it boil. Switch off the flame. Add 2 tspoon of chilly powder to it and allow water to cool completely. To this add asafoetida and fenugreek powder. 

(6) Pour the cooled water to the bottle. Shake well, so that it will mix with the mango pieces. Water level should stand above the mango pieces. Your mango pickle is now ready. Serve it after two days….

Enjoy your spicy mango pickle with rice...

Tips:

• Keeping the mango pieces in sunlight will dehydrate it which helps mango pieces to retain its crispiness
• Add chilly powder according to the tanginess of the mango. If you feel to add more spiciness at the end add it after roasting and cooling the chilly powder. Similarly if you want to add more water, heat water in hot oil, cool and pour.
• Adding sesame oil prevent the formation of fungus. Also pickle can be used for long term. 
• Last but not least, store pickles in cleaned glass bottles or bharani.

Nadan Sambar-Easy Recipe

Sambar, a well known and south india's popular dish ryt? Already i added "sambar" in my blog. It follows the traditional way of cooking. This is almost the same but will ease you….

I always found difficult to cook veggies, and dal separately while making sambar. Time consuming eh??? I discussed it with my best friend sathya during a chit-chat.Oh yeah!!!She gave me a new recipe which she used to follow. I prepared the same and found it easy too. So here i'm sharing her recipe with you all :) Happy cooking….

Vegetables:

Lady's finger	7 (cut into 2 inch piece)
Beans	10 (cut into 2 inch piece)
Cucumber	1/2 (small,peel the skin and cut into cube shapes)
Carrot	2 (cut into round shapes)
Small onion	8 (peel the skin)
Green chilly	3 (medium,cut into round shapes)
Tomato	1 (chopped)
Drum stick	1 (cut into 3 inch piece)
Broad beans	7 (remove fibre from sides and cut into 2 inch piece)
Potato	1/2(peel the skin, cut into cubes)

Ingredients:

Toor dal	1/2 cup
Coriander powder	1/2 tspoon
Turmeric powder	1/4 tspoon
Sambar powder	1 tspoon
Asafoetida powder	1 pinch
Chilly powder	1 tspoon
Salt	to taste
Tamarind	one lemon size(soak in hot water and extract the juice)

To temper:

Oil	2 tspoon
Mustard	1 tspoon
Dry red chilly	3
Curry leaves	1 pinch

Preparation:

(1) Wash and cut all the vegetables. Take toor dal in a pressure cooker. Add the "vegetables"as listed above to it along with turmeric powder,salt and little tamarind water. Pour water around the level of vegetables. Mix once and cook in pressure cooker for about 5 whistles.

(2) Switch off the flame. Once pressure is released add tamarind juice and salt to your taste. Mix well. Again heat it. Add chilly powder, coriander powder and sambar powder to the ingredients. Once it starts boiling add asafoetida powder.

(4) Mean while temper with the ingredients shown under "to temper" heading. Pour it to the sambar and switch off the flame. Your sambar is now ready to serve.

Have it with your rice/dosa/idly…

Tips:

• You can add or reduce various vegetables as your need.

Chicken Chilly Roast

This was my guest post in "HAPPY COOKING"….Roasting the chicken will always have a special taste.How about chicken chilly roast?????Try it :)

Ingredients:

Chicken	1 kg
Oil	to fry
Big onion(peeled and chopped)	2
Tomato(chopped)	3
Soya Sauce	2 tspoon
Curry leaves	1 pinch
Coriander leaves	1 pinch
Salt	to taste

for marination:

Pepper powder	2 tspoon
Turmeric powder	1/2 tspoon
Chilly powder	1 tspoon
Salt	to taste

for grinding:

Green chilly	10
Small onion	8
Ginger	2 inch piece
Garlic	12 cloves

Preparation:

(1) Wash and clean the chicken. Cut into small pieces. Mix with the ingredients shown under "for marination" heading. Keep it aside for about 15 minutes.

(2) Mean while grind the ingredients shown under "for grinding" heading in a mixer . Make a coarse mixture. Keep it aside.

(3) Heat oil in a pan. Fry the marinated chicken. Flip in between till both sides of chicken becomes soft and light brown. Keep the fried chicken aside.

(4) Remove that used oil and add 1 tbl spoon of oil in the same pan (if you are not so health consious you can use the same oil). Add chopped onion into it. Saute till brownish. Keep the fried onion aside.

(5) To the same oil add grounded mixture and saute till the raw smell goes off. To this add curry leaves and chopped tomato. Saute till oil separates and tomato turns juicy.

(6) You will get a "semi liquid" masala. Add fried chicken pieces and into this masala. Mix well.

(7) After that add fried onion and mix well. Make a salt test here. Add soya sauce. Mix well. Finally add coriander leaves. Mix once and close the vessel with a lid. Cook it for 5 minutes in low flame so that the flavor sets well. Your Chicken chilly roast is now ready.

Have it with your Rice/Chapati…

Tips:

• You can use the same oil for frying chicken pieces,onion and ground mixture. But not recommended due to health issues.
• Don't cook the chicken pieces too much while frying.
• I didn't used coriander leaves due to out of stock.